Steven Pinker
Steven Pinker
Steven Arthur "Steve" Pinkeris a Canadian-born American cognitive scientist, psychologist, linguist, and popular science author. He is Johnstone Family Professor in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University, and is known for his advocacy of evolutionary psychology and the computational theory of mind...
NationalityCanadian
ProfessionScientist
Date of Birth18 September 1954
CountryCanada
narrative way events
An ideology can provide a satisfying narrative that explains chaotic events and collective misfortunes in a way that flatters the virtue and competence of believers, while being vague or conspiratorial enough to withstand skeptical scrutiny.
theory-of-evolution atheism would-be
Of course the theory of evolution would be vacuous if it offered a glib explanation for every inexplicable act.
years brain vision
The last 100 years of research into the human brain...sees the brain as an organ that works by physical principles just like the other organs in the body...our emotions and higher callings, such as religion, as well as our grubby low-level physical systems like stereo vision and motor control, are products of a machine...
running dog men
Journalists say that when a dog bites a man, that is not news, but when a man bites a dog, that is news ... Thanks to the mathematics of combinatorics, we will never run out of news.
goal concepts meaningless
Without goals the very concept of intelligence is meaningless
real snakes car
We instinctively fear snakes, but we appear not to be afraid of fast cars, which are a real danger now. This suggests our emotions were shaped by our evolutionary environment not the one we grew up in.
bullying children gay
The Rights Revolutions too have given us ideals that educated people today take for granted but that are virtually unprecedented in human history, such as that people of all races and creeds have equal rights, that women should be free from all forms of coercion, that children should never, ever be spanked, that students should be protected from bullying, and that there’s nothing wrong with being gay. I don’t find it at all implausible that these are gifts, in part, of a refined and widening application of reason.
enemy defeat resources
[Napoleon deployed] every available resource to inflict all-out defeats on [his] enemies.
commitment wish realization
Morality comes from a commitment to treat other as we wish to be treated, which follows from the realization that none of us is the sole occupant of the universe.
clever pages way
We often feel that a clever aphorism captures a truth that would require pages to defend in any other way.
style way consistent
Consistent style prevents presentation from getting in the way of content.
differences people form
... people notice differences and expect every difference in form to convey some difference in meaning.
art destruction theory
Theories of art carry the seeds of their own destruction.
design evolution natural
Natural selection is not the only process that changes organisms over time. But is the only process that seemingly designs organisms over time.